Monday, August 13, 2012

Finding reasons... to be happy in this heat.

The porch thermometer read 110 degrees in the shade this afternoon. You can't breath, walk very far or DO ANYTHING.

IT'S SO HOT...

that cows are giving evaporated milk.

that hot water is coming out of both taps.

that chickens are laying fried eggs.

and...

It’s So Hot That People Are Baking Cookies on Their Dashboards.

OK, I just had to add some levity to this post. I think I got it out of my system.

We didn't even take a walk this morning because we didn't get an early enough start.
Yesterday we walked the river road. It was warm, but tolerable.

We parked the car at the bottom, of our driveway and walked the river road.

The creek was dry as a bone.

I'm guessing that this old fence isn't keeping the cows out of the creek anymore.

This is our our neighbor's barn filled with wood for the winter. Winter?

Yea, Winter......... Oh, Winter.... cold days... sweaters... maybe some snow... boots... frost on the pumpkins... rain... homemade soup... NO RATTLESNAKES... and long walks up to the ridge. Sorry... just a bit of nostalgia...reminiscing about a distant time and place.

To drown my sorrows, I came home and made a Blackberry Galette before the heat hit. I didn't get a photo of it until this...

I used a Pillsbury store pie crust, but I should have used this dough recipe. The store bought crust was too heavy. Only use the premade if you're in a big hurry. It's OK. It's just not as wonderful as the pastry dough.
My cousin and I made one up at her Tahoe house and we made it from scratch. It was much tastier. Please try the recipe pastry. It's very good.
All the same... the Jackson version didn't last any longer that the Tahoe version. I added some blueberries to the blackberries. You can add anything that you like. I also used some lemon zest in the fruit.
There are all kinds of savory Galettes too with potatoes, vegetables and meat. ( Here's a little information for you.)

7 comments:

ha. my moms crop of tomatoes this year is huge...she has been keeping us in them so much my lips hurt...smiles....that blackberry dessert looks yummy...i love berries! stay cool...as much as you can...

Yep, I am in need of sauce tomatoes, I lost all my plants to a chicken raid one day. I was just trying to figure out where to find some home grown sauce tomatoes to make my oven roasted tomato sauce. Our water cooler (some call a swamp cooler) has been working very well keeping my house cool the past few days and it is cheaper to run than A/C. The only problem is we have been suffering with thick smoke from the Ramsey fire, it is only about 10 miles up the highway and getting worse.

Yup 110 here to, weatherman said extreme heat warning was in effect until 11 p.m. Sunday night.... well 110 today and prediction right now is for 105 to 110 for next 7 days, already had 11 days out of 13 so far this month over 100. Would really like to see some weather where I would have to wonder where I put my cold weather clothes.

After a summer with no rain, we finally have been getting some - about 3 inches - and that has been nice. We had no snow all winter - well, one day's worth - so unusual for Michigan. And, things were pretty dry here until last week. The weather has cooled down too - in the 70's. Nice!